Considering the importance of Arsenal keeping up our winning run in the FA Cup, I was a little surprised that Arsene Wenger made a whole nine changes to the team that played Chelsea last week, but it looks like Le Prof gambled with just the right amount of rotation and we ended up winning the game without too many dramas.
It is worth remembering that Burnley arrived with five straight wins under their belts, but Wenger feels that the Gunners were cruising until the Clarets claimed an equalizer. “We needed to work.” Wenger said after the game. “At the start it looked like it would be easy because we had a lot of the ball and good opportunities around the box. When it came back to 1-1, it became a different game. I think we were a bit shocked and they gained belief.
“I saw them against Derby and I could see that this is a very efficient, strong team with no weakness. Everything they do is based on efficiency and they’ve shown that today. In the second half, I don’t think they created a lot. They had one or two opportunities on the counter-attack but we managed to win the game and we looked quite in control at the end. We needed to keep our focus, our urgency until the last minute.”
Our two goals came from the rarely used Chambers and the returning Alexis Sanchez, and Wenger highlighted the difference between the two finishes. “I would say they are two completely different goals. One came from a build up in the final third, where we were patient and moved the ball well, with great finishing from Chambers. He’s quite a good finisher in training. The second one was in transition, coming out quickly from the back and finishing well, with a lot of pace. They were two completely different goals.”
After Sanchez put us ahead early in the second half we were usually in control except for a couple of small scares, and Wenger seemed quite happy to ride out the game, introducing Arteta, Rosicky and swapping Giroud for Walcott. The Englishman could have made it a little more respectable if he hadn’t bottled it in the last minute, but I think we can look at it as a job done, and with a full set of fresh legs for Tuesday’s game against Southampton…
Cech
Bellerin. Gabriel. Koscielny. Monreal
Coquelin
Ramsey
Campbell. Ozil. Sanchez
Giroud
Subs: Ospina, Gibbs,Chambers,Elneny, Rosicky, Walcott, Ox.
Missing out :Mertesacker, Arteta, Flamini,Iwobi,Debuchy
Would have loved to have Iwobi on the bench but there’s no room.
This should be our squad henceforth, Welbeck, Wilshire and Cazorla will play a role in the closing stages of the season.
agree: note that walcott & ox are on the bench.
mert can play when we’re away and are sitting back.
theo can sub in for giroud ; elneny for ramsey or coq.
ox for campbell.
Akpom scored a hat trick for Hull 🙂
Well Done!!!
Take it or you leave it, Iwobi is for the future, our future. This is the second time I’ve watched him played in the midfield his is good considering his age. I think he will give City’s Iheanacho a headache in the future. Great control, great foot work. He reminds me Kanu. Sluggish but sure of what he’s gonna do next. I just hope he gets game time and not die on the bench like Akpom. Wlcm bk Le coq, I sight you, welcm bk Sanchez, I see you.
Gibbs needs to be very careful after that tackle and the fact that he could have injured a first team regular.